The trip that made my friend snow blind!

Once again I am posting my most recent trip to the San Gorgonio Wilderness which is the closest wilderness area to my current geographical location and the one that I most frequent.

It was a warm and sunny day in early April and my friend Mike and I had decided a few weeks prior that we would do a two night trip to the wilderness.  Our goal was to hike the Vivian Creek trail, permits permitting, and make our way to Halfway Camp the first evening, and the next day, try a summit attempt.

We had been winter camping for about a year and felt that we were well prepared for what lay ahead, but as always, we found during the trip that there are always areas in which to improve!


Day 1: The hike in to base camp (at least that was what we called it ;-)

We met at Mike's house and from there drove a quick twenty minutes to the ranger station where they informed us that, yes Vivian Creek was available.  They informed us that there were several feet of snow at our intended camp and asked us if we were geared for winter.  We of course replied yes, although we had no snow shoes, crampons, or hard shell layers (I had my snowboarding gear but that was it between us).

We got to the trailhead and geared up to embark.  I had to pack my whole pack since I had had no time until that morning.  We also put on our hiking boots and new Gaiters, since we were not going to repeat our previous mistakes with barefoot shoes (see previous posts).  We headed out around one o'clock and intended to make our campsite around 3:30 or 4:00 pm.  We had never attempted this trail before and had heard that it was the most steep and arduous of all the trails in the wilderness, and by golly, we had heard right!

After one mile and a near strait up ascent and a gain of 1000 feet, we arrived at the wilderness boundary.  We took a well needed break, but were happy to see minimal snow fall, only a few drifts here and there hiding from the hot sun.

We got back on the trail and hiked 0.2 miles to Vivian Creek Camp.  It was a beautiful meandering stream along a shaded and vegetation thick (at least for california) valley.  We hiked along the creek, now running into much more snow, at least two feet deep, and eventually came to a crossing, which lead us to a sign designating Halfway Camp, 3.6 miles from the trailhead and a 2000 ft. elevation gain.

Mike and I on our way up

At the camp, we searched around for the ideal place for a base camp that would allow us good wind protection and cover from other hikers.  we came across a few fallen trees buried in the snow and decided to put up our camp on the downhill side of these trees since they made a natural windbreak and gave good cover.  We also needed a good spot to be able to guy out our tent and tarp.  We set up camp and it turned out to be the best set up we ever had!

Our Camp 

A picture from the logs behind our camp

Mike made snow anchors for the tie outs that could be tied to a tree and they worked splendidly.  We finished setup and hiked back to the creek to replenish our water supply, a quicker alternative to melting snow.  It also allowed us to conserve fuel.

Snow Anchors

We then went back to camp and spent the next few hours before dark getting situated in the tent and cooking dinner and fixing up some hot drinks as the temperature dropped.

The night was cold, but we were comfortable, me in my home made sleeping bag liner (thanks to my creative and thoughtful wife, I love you!) and Big Agnes sleeping system, and Mike on his Thermarest mattress and in his Hi-Tec sleeping bag.  He is generally a warmer sleeper than me so he was fine, but around two in the morning I got cold and had to put on another layer of clothing.

It had been a tiring day of snow travel, but beautiful and well worth the hike!

Day 2: The attempted ascent of Mt. San Gorgonio (without the aid of Crampons!)

We woke up fairly early (6:30 am) and cooked our before-hike breakfast, consisting of sausages, and a cool mix of dehydrated hash browns and gravy mix.  It was a nice warm treat on a cold alpine morning.  We hiked to the creek around 8:30 and replenished our water supply for the impending climb.  We intended to follow the tracks of previous hikers through the snow so as not to become lost, and as we began our trek we found that the hikers must have had a GPS because their tracks lead us strait up a hillside through three-four feet of frozen snow, definitely not following the trail, which was overcome by snow and showed now trace.  We climbed strait up for around an hour and were greeted by gorgeous views of the surrounding countryside.

We continued our hike up another quarter of a mile and topped the ridge, deciding to take a break and eat some protein bars.  As we ate another hiker approached up the way we had come.  His name was Maric and he had done this hike every year around this time for as long as he could remember.  He explained how he planned to hike the summit, and offered to leave us arrows so that we could follow behind him as he hiked.  This was great for us, since neither of us had hiked the summit before and there had been no other hikers going that far up the day before that we had seen.  We followed him up the hill and he quickly left us in his snow-dust.

Mike and I following Maric

We soon got to another creek, just below High Camp, and there replenished our dwindling water supply for the rest of the trek up.  We came to our first arrow as promised and continued up the gulch toward the summit.  As we neared the end of the ravine we saw our second arrow, pointing us strait up a chute that was near vertical.  It was the steepest most icy piece of Gods creation that I have ever had to traverse!  Now around 9500 ft. elevation, we could only set small goals, toe-stepping into the side of the hill with our meager hiking boots from shady tree to shady tree.  After an hour and a half we finally made it to the top of the ridge.  We could see Maric, about 500 feet above us climbing to the next peak!  We trekked on, getting close to our limit of endurance but not wanting to take no for an answer.  Finally we reached the top of the peak we had seen Maric go over,  and we realized that it was still not the summit.  It was now nearly 2 pm and we new that there was a serious walk back to camp.  We decided to call it quits, knowing that we were still two miles from the summit and not wanting to be caught out after dark.  We melted some snow on Mikes Snow Peak stove and ate some GORP.  It had been a great climb, pushing both of us to the limits of our not-so-developed endurance.  (Mike! We need more endurance training!)

 Mt. San Jacinto in the distance

 Mt. Baldy in the distance

 The cloud Covered Valley, great day to be high!

 North

 SAN Jacinto again

 Mike with San Jacinto in the background

 Mike on the not-summit

 Contemplating Life

 A prediction of rain, not for us though!

Me on the not-summit

We packed up and headed back down, not knowing how easily we would find out way back!  We were again passed by Maric (who had the endurance of ten men and had to be at least 50) and he told us that he was going to glissade down the chute that we had climbed up due to the softening snow.  We followed him down on our rear ends and it was quite a slide!  I wish I had taken a picture to show the distance, because we must have slid 500 feet or so strait down without stopping!  It was great.  Then we hiked the rest of the way back to the creek at  High Camp and refilled our water supply for the two miles back to camp. 

 Mike setting his SLED (jacket) aside at High Camp

Me wishing that I had Gortex pants!

We trekked the rest of the way back to camp, with only a few near death experiences, (once when I nearly pulled a Sonny Bono, and once when Mike nearly slid to his death!)  and decided that even though we hadn't made the summit, it had been a glorious adventure that taught us alot!

At camp we set about using the remaining sunlight to our advantage, stripping to the skivvies and letting everything dry out from our glissade.  

 Checking the time by the sun! haha

 Stuff drying out

Clothes line

Our climb had made us hungry so we ate an early dinner around 5 pm.  Mike cooked us up some noodles and beef and we were soooooo full!  

Mike cooking up dinner

With the remaining light we went and got water, and when we got back I made us a snow couch to relax on. 

Snow Couch

We spent the rest of the night eating black licorice and drinking a 9 oz. bottle of Bacardi Gold!  Good times and much needed relaxation!

Around eleven PM, after we had gone to bed and I had snored myself silly for around two hours, I awoke to find Mike hurting.  He had woken up to take a leak and upon awakening found that his eyes were burning something fierce!  We decided that he had Snow Blindness, and his corneas had been burned by the glare of the sun off of the snow.  I was surprised to find that I had none of the symptoms, and was sad to see my best buddy in so much pain!  He doused his eyes in Asea Water and it took the burning away for a time, but he had a mostly sleepless night while I slept like a baby!  (So sorry buddy!)

We woke around 6:30 am again and cooked an early breakfast.  It was difficult to get up and we were stiff and tired, but our spirits were still good. We made some hot drinks and sat around for a few getting our energy together.

 Trying to warm up

Mikes eyes were so swollen! Ouch! But he was still ready to go!

We packed up the rest of our stuff and headed out! Sad to see the end of our trip.

 Me the morning we left camp

Mike and I

We trekked down the snow covered path and had to marvel at the beauty of Gods creation!  I stopped and redirected our march to the bank of the creek as it wound its way back to civilization for us.

 The creek we followed out

 Mike looking back the way we had come

 Me by the creek

The creek a-raging

We hiked the rest of the way down with no problems and found the car right where we had left it.  It had been a great trip and one to remember and learn from.  Good times buddy!

Things to remember for next time:

Make sure you bring sun glasses and a ball cap when trekking through the snow!  You might just find yourself snowblind!

Build snow furniture if you can.  its really comfortable.

Don't worry about having enough light to return after a summit attempt!  Glissading is really fun and fast!

Get Gortex pants so that you won't have to thaw out after a glissade.

All in all a good trip.  Things to get:

-Gortex Pants

-Sun Glasses

-Shell Jacket

-Down Booties

-Crampons!

- Snow Shoes

-Ice Axe

- Add Sun Block to emergency kit

-Alo Vera to emergency kit

- Asprin! at least 15 pills

- Down jacket or vest

Until Next Time!

P.S: Our new friend Marek (not Maric) sent me a link to his photos from his hike to San G.  Below is a shot of Mike and I on the mountain from a distance and also the glissaded chute from the trip!  Thanks Marek!